Mom Gave Beer To Son, 4, At Irish Pub

[X Factor 1,112]

Mom Gave Beer To Son, 4, At Irish Pub

AUGUST 28--A South Carolina woman is facing child negligence charges after she was allegedly spotted giving her four-year-old son “shots” of beer at a bar Saturday night, police report.

Gretchen Lynn Kinnear, 44, was busted following the incident at McHale’s Irish Pub in Fort Mill, a town 18 miles south of Charlotte, North Carolina. Pictured in the adjacent mug shot, Kinnear was booked into the York County Detention Center for contributing to the delinquency of a minor (she was later released on $3000 bond).

According to a York County Sheriff’s Office report, bar patron Matthew Wray told deputies that he saw Kinnear give her child “about three ‘shots’ of beer.” This occurred, Wray added, after he “had the manager and the waitress ask her to stop” providing the boy with alcohol.

When questioned by investigators, Kinnear copped to sharing “blonde beer” samples that were provided to her in shot glasses. She admitted doing this “at least twice while inside the bar,” deputies reported.

Describing the beverage his mother gave him as “tea,” the boy told deputies that the drink “tasted funny and made him laugh a lot.” The child “also said that the ‘tea’ that his mom gives him makes him dizzy.”

The boy also revealed that his mother gave him similar “tea” at home. Asked about this, Kinnear acknowledged that “about once or twice a week she drinks wine at her home” and allows her son “to have some.”

Kinnear added that she “doesn’t do it to get him drunk or keep him quiet.” But the sheriff’s report does not detail why she provides the boy with alcohol.

Child welfare workers took custody of the boy at McHale's and subsequently placed him in the care of a couple who babysits the child, deputies reported.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/mom-shares-beer-with-boy-579813

[ibee 7]

.................that lady needs help.. jail time won't do it.

poor kid.

Edited August 29, 2012 by ibee

[ibee 7]

well when I was four my grandpa had me dip my finger in wine and taste it, I wanted "nothing to do with the yucky stuff" after that but here in the states there is no tolerance whatsoever for children drinking alcohol, any amount of alcohol. Especially continuously ... and in public

Edited August 30, 2012 by ibee

[ibee 7]

Glad I was brought up by people with a different culture and in a different time or else you would want them arrested too.

NO! I do my best not to judge and meddle in anyone's business. And personally, I think the more you tell a kid "you cannot have that" the more the kid wants it.

And when the kid turns 21, it is more likely to go overboard with the drinking than a kid who has not been 'sheltered' all it's life.

It has nothing to do with that though.

I meant there is no tolerance for children and alcohol here in the States WHATSOEVER. And that for this lady to give alcohol to her son in public, something must be wrong with her mentally... to put herself and her child in such risk.

That's all I meant

[JohnR! 5,495]

Glad I was brought up by people with a different culture and in a different time or else you would want them arrested too.

Our entire family was brought up on wine and beer - that is what you get when your grandparents are Irish and Italian - and everyone came out just fine too.

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

NO! I do my best not to judge and meddle in anyone's business. And personally, I think the more you tell a kid "you cannot have that" the more the kid wants it.

And when the kid turns 21, it is more likely to go overboard with the drinking than a kid who has not been 'sheltered' all it's life.

It has nothing to do with that though.

I meant there is no tolerance for children and alcohol here in the States WHATSOEVER. And that for this lady to give alcohol to her son in public, something must be wrong with her mentally... to put herself and her child in such risk.

That's all I meant

There are a few states that allow parents or guardians to furnish alcohol.

[ibee 7]

There are a few states that allow parents or guardians to furnish alcohol.

In private, for religious purposes and such.. not in public and certainly not in a bar

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

In private, for religious purposes and such.. not in public and certainly not in a bar

11 states allow it in public.

http://drinkingage.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=002591

[X Factor 1,112]

Our entire family was brought up on wine and beer - that is what you get when your grandparents are Irish and Italian - and everyone came out just fine too.

Yep ... A cultural thing. I always as a kid had a bit of beer and wine.